Horror as hit and run van rampage kills 9 in Toronto
A VAN driver brought terror to Toronto yesterday – killing at least nine people and injuring 16 as he mowed down pedestrians on a busy street.
Witnesses described seeing a van travelling ‘between 60-70mph’, swerving across four lanes of traffic and hitting passers-by.
‘This person was intentionally doing this, he was killing everybody,’ a witness, who only gave his name as Ali, said. ‘He kept going, he kept going. People were getting hit, one after another.’
He added that many of the victims had been elderly and that he saw a pushchair fly into the air.
The horror unfolded at a busy intersection in a northern part of the Canadian city at 1.30pm local time.
It is known that at least nine had died and that 16 others were injured – including at least four critically.
The van was found several blocks away and the driver was taken into custody. Alek Minassian, 25, was identified by CBS News sources as the suspect.
Footage from the scene showed the suspect pointing what appeared to be a gun at police before he was ordered to drop it and was arrested. He was taken into custody a few yards from a large white rental van which has serious damage to the front of the vehicle.
Last night police did not confirm whether the act was intentional.
Witness Diego DeMatos told Sky News: ‘All I could see was dead bodies on the floor. I kept driving north and all I saw was more and more people lying on the floor. I stopped to help one of the victims on the side of the road along with a few other people and it was a hard image to see … a lot of them had really bad injuries and two or three were dead on the side of the road.
‘He was on the sidewalk and then on the road and then on the sidewalk. It continued for about six blocks or so.’
Global News reporter Jeremy Cohn also said he saw ‘bodies all over [the street],’ adding: ‘Some have been pronounced dead on scene.’
Witness Henry Miller told Sky News: ‘I heard a large amount of honking and stepped out on to balcony to see the trouble … at this point I saw a lady on the floor and the van driving off and people trying to help her.’ He said he saw a ‘white van speeding probably 60-70mph down this major road, swerving to deliberately hit pedestrians and avoid traffic before careering off into a side street’.
Mr Miller added that the van had been swerving across all four lanes. Another witness Jamie Eopni told local media that the van driver ‘didn’t really look like he cared where he was going or what he was doing’.
‘It was crashing into everything. It destroyed a bench. If anybody was on that street they would have been hit on the sidewalk,’ Mr Eopni said. ‘You could see exactly where he drove because of the tyre marks. [He was] just crashing into the poles, scraping along.’
‘It was just so many bodies,’ added witness Carol Roberts, who said she saw ‘a lot of people lying lifeless on the ground’.
A police spokesman told the Toronto Sun it was too soon to determine the motive.
Acting Chief Peter Yuen said: ‘At approximately 1.30pm this afternoon police received a number of calls from citizens indicating a vehicle was driving on Yonge Street and striking a number of pedestrians between Finch Avenue and Sheppard Avenue. We have located the vehicle, the driver is in custody and he is being investigated as to the events that took place this afternoon. I also want to offer my condolences to the families and the victims of this tragic event.
‘I can assure the public that all our available resources have been brought in to address this tragic situation and to investigate this situation.’
The incident came as Cabinet ministers from the G7 countries gathered in Toronto for discussions in the run-up to the G7 meeting near Quebec City in June.
During an event in Ottawa, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said: ‘Our hearts go out to anyone affected. Obviously we’ll have more to say in the coming hours.’
The incident echoes previous hit-and-runs that have terrorised major cities in recent years.
In March 2017, Khalid Masood killed five people after he drove into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, before he stabbed to death PC Keith Palmer.
Three months later eight people died after a van mowed down pedestrians in the London Bridge area.
‘It was just so many bodies’